Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Maurice from Rochester asked about terms that can express the constant flow of days represented by the words yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I’ll warn up front that some of them are obsolete, but I suppose that they could be revived.

YESTERDAYIn Latin, hesternus meant yesterday. Our word hesternal, of yesterday’s standing or date, is based on that word. Hestern was an earlier spelling. Latin also gave us pridie, basically “before this day.” That led to pridian, pertaining to the previous day.

TODAYFrom the Greek, we have ‘ημερα (hemera), meaning day. This has generated hemeralopia (day-blindness), hemerine (belonging to a day), Hemerobaptist (an obscure sect that practiced daily baptism), hemerobian (a family of insects known as day-flies), hemerocallis ( a day-lilly), and hemerology (a day book). And something ephemeral lasts barely a day.

From the Latin, we have hodie, today. This has given us hodiernal, of or belonging to the present day. Latin also contributed diurnalis, daily. Something diurnal can be done in one day, happens on a daily basis, or lasts only one day. And quotidian (from Latin for “every day”) means the same thing.

TOMORROWLatin contributed crastinum, the morrow. There was an obsolete English word crastin (the day after), but we know the root best from the word procrastinate, to defer or put off to the next day. The crastinal tense covers an event that will happen tomorrow.

So if you’re looking for adjective forms, you could do worse than hesternal, hodiernal, and crastinal.

Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now. There is now an archive of podcasts. Look under The Ron Jolly Show.

Write to Mike with comments or questions:wordmallATaol.com(substitute @ for AT above)

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About Me

Michael Sheehan retired in 1994 after teaching English for 26 years in the City Colleges of Chicago. He lives in Leelanau County with his artist wife Dona. In his spare time he is a writer, and he does a weekly guest stint on Tuesday mornings from 9:00-10:00 on AM 580, WTCM. The show is called Words to the Wise, and it covers the joys and vicissitudes of the English language. [wtcmradio.com]
Michigan's Governor Granholm appointed him to the Commission on Services to the Aging; he has been reappointed to another three-year term by Governor Snyder. He serves as Chairman of the forty-member State Advisory Council on Aging.
He was formerly on the Board of Advisors of the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Michigan, and was a member of the Bay Area Senior Advocates.
Professor Sheehan is a member of the Society of Midland Authors, the Dictionary Society of North America, the American Dialect Society, and Michigan Writers.